Ivory Coast Civil War UPDATE

BBC's UN correspondent asks, "Did UN forces take sides in Ivory Coast?" as he reports on the U.N. helicopters bombing of Gbagbo's arsenal.

"What is clear is that if the UN continues to sanction military interventions in national conflicts, there will be continuing questions about whether it is acting to protect civilians, or using humanitarian justifications as a smokescreen to force political change."

-- Laurent Gbagbo is the incumbent president who lost an election and refuses to leave office. The United Nations is trying to install a former IMF economist Alassane Ouattara who the U.N. declared President after the election. Gbagbo, however, got 46 percent of the vote in a country strongly divided in which the capital is in the south and Quattara is from the north. The Ivory Coast, like Liberia next door, had a horrendous civil war from 2002 to 2004. Peace was brokered in 2007.

While Mr Gbagbo spent much of his life fighting for democracy, according to the BBC, Ouattara represents the primarily muslim north that is held by the rebels. The U.N. and France have been trying to evict Gbagbo, but Quattara grew tired of waiting, and has employed a mercenary army ("Republican Forces" to invade the south. The discovery of some 200 bodies yet to be identified, most burned alive, were found just hours after the Republican Forces, loyal to Mr Ouattara, swept through on their advance south towards Abidjan.

France and the U.N. are openly supporting Quattara with French forces and U.N. and French helicopters. Prudently, Quattara has refrained from having his mercenaries kill Gbagbo but it's likely that that is only because the constitution says that if the president resigns or dies in office, the speaker of the national assembly should replace him. And Quattara has yet to be certified as president.

The biggest worry is that the conflict could spread to Liberia and restart their bloody civil war as civilians in the Ivory Coast flee to neighboring countries. It's something the French and the U.N. should have considered in their heavy handed tactics. And even if Quattara does win the battles, there are enormous problems.

The BBC correspondent wrote,

Given Ivory Coast's long history of political and ethnic tension, it may not be enough for Mr Ouattara to have won the election and be "the internationally recognised" president.

Indeed, this international seal of approval may be a disadvantage in local political terms.

For almost 20 years Mr Ouattara's political opponents have accused him of being a "foreigner".

Legitimacy could be a problem for Quattara.

On the political front, if and when Mr Ouattara formally takes office, he will face continued opposition. This may include a possible crisis of legitimacy, in some Ivorian eyes, because he was helped to power by foreign military forces.